Improvement in harness



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

ROBERT HUYCK, OF SHEBOYGAN FALLS, WISQONSIN.

IMPROVEM ENT IN HARNESS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 57,1113, dated August 14, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT HUYcK, of Sheboygan Falls, in the county of Sheboygan and State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Harness; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exacttdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which- The figure represents a perspective view of my invention attached to the tongue and horsels collars.

The nature of my invention consists in an arrangement of springs attached to thetongue, and a series of straps and pulleys connecting said springs to the collars and neck-yoke in such a manner that as the tongue sways from one side to the other said motion will be checked by the springs, which act in conjunction with each other, so as to exert little or no displacing power upon the attachments which connect them to the tongue.

That others may understand my invention, I will particularly describe it.

A is the tongue of the wagon, which, in consequence of obstructions in the road, is some times caused to swing with great Vviolence against the legs or shoulders of the horse, frequently inflicting great damage. B is the ordinary neck-yoke. C G are the horses collars, and D D are the breast-straps. It is desirable not only to check the violent motion of the tongue, which has been referred to, but it is equally desirable to check it without sudden jerking of the collar, by which the horse may be caused to miss his footing and thus injure himself. I therefore place two springs, E E, upon the tongue, near its forward end. These springs approach each other at their rear ends,

' and may be secured upon opposite sides of the tongue by rivets or bolts common to both, or they may be connected bya solid band which encircles the tongue at that point. It is considered desirable, but not imperative, that they should touch the sides of the tongue at a little distance in front of the point where they are fastened, in order to gain thereby a bearing-point removed from the fastening, and therefore be increased in strength. From this point the springs spread rapidly apart and incline upward a little, so that their forward ends are higher than the upper surface of the tongue, and as wide asunder as necessary to permit them to have the required amount of movement-a distance which will depend somewhat upon the strength of the springs and the character of the wagon to which they are attached.

At the end of each of the springs is a small pulley, over which passes one of the straps F, which is secured at one end to the opposite spring. Then strain is brought upon either one of these straps F the free ends of both springs will be drawn toward the tongue; or, in other words, the ends of the springs will be drawn toward each other. Both springs will then resist this force; but that resistance .l

will not effect the fastening of the springs to the tongue, because the resistance of the springs at that point will be in exactly opposite directions. and will neutralize each other, so far as any effect upon said fastening is concerned. This result could not be obtained if one spring only were used, or if each strap F communicated with only one spring, because then the resistance ofthe spring, when being deflected, would react directly upon the devices securing it to the tongue, and this reaction would inevitably canse those iastenings to become loose, and the usefulness of the contrivance thereby destroyed.

In my arrangement the springs react upon each other and the fastenings are not disturbed. In the other arrangement described the reaction would be directly upon the fastening, with the result specified.

In order now to enable the above-mentioned springs and straps to accomplish the object designed the straps F pass diagonally from the pulleys at the ends of the springs across the tongue to pulleys attached to the hamerings, and thence back again diagonally across the tongue, and are finally secured to the ends of the neckyoke B. y

The pulleys at the hama-ring may be attached thereto by a snap-hook, and will be the only part of this device to be detached when removing the horse from the wagon.

The operation will be easily understood. The pulleys at the haine-rings are regarded as fixed points. Now, supposing the tongue swings toward the right hand. It carries with it the neck-yoke, and draws upon the strap F, Having described myinvention, whatelaini which is attached to the'right-hztnd end thereas new; and desire to secure by Letters Patof. This strap passes over the pulley secured` ent, is- A to the shoulder of the left-hand horse, and ln combination with the Wagomtongue A, thence back to the tongue, and it is perfectly the springs E E pand sti-aps F F, for the purevident that both ends of the strap F cannot pose set forth. move in the same direction while passing ovei1 ROBT. HUYGK. wpulley which is xd. The motion of the Witnesses:

tongue is therefore checked, but by the action ANDREW VERBURG,

of the springs E,notvio1ent1y. v F. K. HOUSE. 

